Bathroom Sink Odor: How to Find and Fix

Learn how to get rid of a gross smellinig odor from the bathroom sink. Find out how to clean smelly build-up out of your sink drain, and how to use a monthly cleaning product that prevents build-up and odor.

MEL: OK, it’s something that’s been, you know, developing over time. And I didn’t want to use any corrosive material or anything else to pour down there to get rid of it. So, you know, there’s like a tube leading to that trap and I used alcohol, which seemed to have gotten rid of most of the – looked like a fungus actually growing on the tube leading to the trap.

LESLIE: Is it a sink that you use often or do you rarely use this room?

MEL: It’s in the downstairs bathroom. It’s used completely all the time.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) All the time.

TOM: OK.

MEL: Every morning and night.

TOM: Yeah. Well, what happens is you get some deposits inside the pipe. And if you want to clean it out, what I would recommend you do is take the trap off, which is under the sink. That’s the U-shaped part of the pipe. And you’re going to find that that trap is probably coated with all sorts of deposits from the water and everything else that’s gone down there; you know, the toothpaste and everything else that goes down – the soap scum. All of that sort of sticks to the side of the pipe and it needs a good solid cleaning. Or you could get a drain brush, which is a like a long sort of snaky, flexible brush and clean it out from the topside. But that will probably get rid of most of what is causing your odor.

MEL: Oh, great.

LESLIE: And you know what, Mel? If you want to maintain it, Roto-Rooter[2] has an enzyme sort of liquid that you mix into hot water and you pour it down all of your drains once a month. And that maintains keeping that gunk at bay and keeping that odor down and just sort of naturally breaks things down. It’s not hazardous for your system at all.